Mata: I’m very grateful to United fans

Mata looked absolutely delighted to score his first Manchester United this afternoon against Aston Villa. He ran straight to the fans in the Sir Alex Ferguson stand before then celebrating in front of the Stretford End.

“It feels very good, it’s taken a few games but today was the day,” Mata told MUTV. “I felt that it was coming and, thankfully, it was today. I feel very happy and very grateful to the fans who were supporting me in the game today. I will try to score as many as I can between now and the end of the season and hopefully it is the first of many in my Manchester United career.”

Wayne Rooney put United level before scoring the penalty that Mata won. The Spaniard is thoroughly enjoying playing alongside Rooney this year.

“He’s doing very well for us, scores almost every game and is so passionate about playing for this club,” Mata added. “I’m very happy for him and hopefully he can keep scoring until the end of the season. I really enjoyed linking up with him as we had spaces to play between their lines. I really like to play with him because he is top striker – he does everything up front.”

This man is THE BEST attacking midfielder at this football club and he should be owning that position. He has has been played badly out of position and it’s why he’s not been able to impact games as much as he would have liked. Just get two solid composed midfielders that can clean up behind him and watch this man work his magic next season.

Mata is a phenomenal player, Kagawa is what every supporter wants and is crying out for (not fucking tom cleverley) and Wayne Rooney simply put should be this clubs captain. It is a travesty if someone else gets the armband over him next season.

This dynamic of having creative geniuses like Shinji and Juan behind a lethal striker in RVP or Wazza is mouthwatering. Just sort that joke that we call a midfield out and this club is heading in the right direction with or without Moyes in charge.

There will be a some tough decisions that will have to be made in the summer. We are going to have to drastically change our formation to accomodate Rooney and VP as strikers while allowing Mata to shine in his attacking midfield position. Possibly looking at a 4-3-1-2 which would require 3 all action midfielders. Either this or one of Rooney or VP will have to sacrifice playing in his preferred position for the sake of the team. Rooney is more versatile than Van Persie and to me he should be willing to sacrifice playing in his preferred position if he really thinks he should be captain of this club. The only way we are going to get better is if we play Mata in his preferred position.

it is obvious that Rooney behidn the striker does not work so if RVP stays or is kepts then RVP has to start because he won’t sit on the bench so this means Rooney has to be sacrificed but where?

Kagawa playing so wel lfrom the left and linking with Mata from the middle means that these 2 hasve to be untouchable ALSO add Januzaj who is outstanding coming fro mthe left or right or middle, Welbeck can do a good job also , so WHERE Rooney could be playing?

Middle? NO, if we want to become top dogs, Rooney is not the solution there SO this only means that Rooney and RVP have to accpet being dropped, which will not happen

so basically RVP is very likely to leave BUT if Chicha will be leaving too, then who will be left as strikers? Henriquez and Wilson, which is great but in the long run? could work, hard to say

anyway a lot of teams have nowadays only 2-3 strikers in the reserves when played with 1 striker tactics, so even if we end up only with Rooney and Welbeck, we might do just fine

BUt RVP and Rooney for ManUtd squad is betetr than without RVP in the squad,

You may never know they may eventually workout. It is upto confidence and in last few games both mata and kagawa are finding their feet. If they start understanding their movement then they will play some breathtaking football. The kagawa goal is coming and the assist will be from mata and same way vice versa. The way both find each other is amazing to watch. And even when RVP comes back this will work because by the time lads will be in full confidence. I just want to see kagawa in action against bayern. Let the boy play for 90 mins behind the striker and see how he does. Also hope one of Nani or januzaj play. They have to play flair players against bayern. It is just Adjusting with your mates. The moment rvp , Rooney , kagawa and mata start understanding each other’s game then mark my words we will score plenty. I hope moyes uses same set of attackers till the end of the season and let them link up.

Difference between like and obsession Blade, like I said unless you’re a kid,clicking on someone’s user name and seeing someone i’m assuming is Blade then scroll down and can click onto the top 10 super powers,you’re either very young or somewhat slow and disturbed

All these false dawns only shows the quality united do possess in their ranks, contrary to what moyes has been claiming.. He just lacks the nous to get the best out of them. Kagawa is an outstanding footballer, has been and always will be.. Myissue has been his lack of stamping an authority upon games, being the game changer and match winner his ability warrants.. At manchester united, talent is not enough, you have to embrace the stage. I will also have to accept the tactical system, personnel and style of play have strangled him, even more so under the predictable moyes. Kagawa is a player that needs quality around him, he needs to be within the right system and be allowed to play with freedom and confidence and when that happens, he improves and he displayed those qualities vs villa, what we need now is him consistently in the line up in order to generate momentum, we know that can’t be guaranteed under this management, nor can we expect a good philosophy. I think the central midfielders still needs a massive upgrade, they are the tempo controllers, the conductors both defensively and attacking, they supply the likes of mata and kagawa in order to do what they can do, I think united are only a couple of players short of going back to the top, unlike moyes dreadful claims of an “ageing squad” and a “total rebuild”.

Kudos to adnan januzaj, a mercurial talent. He has blossomed all season and I think come next season, he’ll hopefully be a powerful force to be reckoned with.. His guile, technique, intelligence and composure belies his actual age.. I think he’ll eventually go centrally too.

All in all, a decent performance. Nothing to rave about, nothing changes the views on david moyes..

“Anyone looking at United this season can see problems that need addressing, from the lack of intensity on the pitch to the unconvincing transfer trading, to the public relations disaster that beckons every time Moyes appears before cameras. The bigger question is why this is all happening and how people so knowledgeable and passionate about football failed to see it coming.

The answer might be deceptively simple. Moyes is not Ferguson, never will be and the great man himself was too close to the situation to take a properly detached view and work out what it was about his input that made his partnership with United so successful. When the succession scheme was announced most people felt too deferential towards Ferguson to offer more than mild surprise at the route chosen, so Roberto Martínez, then of Wigan Athletic, deserves some sort of award for prescience for spotting the danger almost at once.

“Any manager can tweak tactics or introduce a different style but what I feel is that every time you played against Manchester United you played against a mentality,” Martínez said just under a year ago, when the news broke during the run-up to the FA Cup final that would make his own name in management. “They have always had a winning mentality, they always compete and that comes from the manager. It will be interesting to see if United remain the same with a new man in charge.”

Interesting barely covers it. Perhaps Ferguson thought that because Everton were always competitive under Moyes, famous for punching above their weight, the same will to win could be readily transferred to a larger stage. But Ferguson seems to have underestimated the personal drive that he himself brought to the equation, a stubborn fieriness transmitted to his players that Moyes appears unable to summon no matter how hard he tries.

Indeed, the harder he tries, the more awkward he appears. It seems too simplistic to suggest that highly paid internationals need such an old-fashioned motivational device as a scary manager to perform at their peak, though it is possible that at some subliminal level United’s players are not responding to Moyes because he has not done enough to earn unquestioning respect. It took even Ferguson time to do that and he arrived with a solid list of achievements in Scotland. That time will be unavailable to Moyes because, whereas Ferguson took over a shambles and eventually turned it into a silver machine, the brief for the new man was to make adjustments as necessary but keep a finely tuned engine running.

That is what Guardiola has done at Bayern while Moyes has been supervising a series of embarrassing stalls and, though the situations of the two clubs were not precisely similar in summer, the proximity of the two new men in charge on Tuesday will make comparisons inevitable. Moyes right now is probably in the business of being thankful for any small mercy he can get his hands on, so here is one. At least he took over a Manchester United side that merely won the league by 11 points in what was considered a below-average season last year. IT IS NOT AS IF HE WAS ASKED TO FOLLOW A TREBEL.”

Shaan – and if kagawa gets sold then it further stamps the conclusion of moyes, doesn’t it?.. I think if you are including depatures, ashley young is bang on.. I can’t even call him a fish out of water as fishes usually do something, flap around.

@Samuel yesterday was absolutely shambolic. I remember Pogba giving us a reason for his departure, dont know if Lingard will have him as a reason for his departure. What I mean is to see Young play and do what he is doing would/could make anyone wonder how the fuck is he ahead of me?